Chapter 23
Felix and Liam squeezed out of the cave and into a shattered landscape, bathed in violet light.
It was obvious that the dragon had raged outside of the circle of stones.
Huge furrows rent the blackened earth, and the air was striated with thick smoke.
Stumps of trees smoldered and burned, and massive stones had been torn up and thrown at the circle.
They weighed on the ward Jena had created around them.
She slumped against Chase, and even at a distance, her face was haggard and pinched.
They were in trouble, and the dragon knew it.
A malevolent chuckle rumbled through its chest as it paced around the stones, playing with them and waiting for her ward to fail.
“Shit,” Liam muttered.
Yeah. Felix’s throat bobbed. That about covered it. Why hadn’t the node responded? Aggie was supposed to be getting the coven to help, and that’d been hours ago.
It didn’t matter. He had to do something. “You need to get Axle out of here,” he said to Liam, handing over Sway’s bag. “Myx will go with you. If he could wake Axle up, he can hold the distortion around you long enough to get back to the path.”
Liam’s brows furrowed, shouldering it with a wince. “Felix, we’re not—”
“Yes, you are. I need to distract that dragon long enough for Jena and Chase to do what they need to do, and I can’t do that if I’m worried about you two, so go,” he fought to keep the tremble from his voice. “I’ve got this.”
Liam searched his gaze and then pulled him close, kissing him fiercely. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Felix said, struggling to keep his emotions in check. “Now go, before I totally chicken out.”
Liam kissed him again, and then he was gone, following Myx along the cliffside and out of the hollow. Felix took a deep breath as they slipped from view. Right. He had this. He just needed to piss off the dragon, right?
“Hey, asshole!” he shouted, dropping his distortion spell.
The dragon’s head snapped to him, and it hissed, its neck weaving like a snake.
Felix swallowed his fear. “You might want to see if your homeowner’s covers charred corpses and vaporized gold, because all of it’s gone.”
The dragon eyes narrowed at him. “Liesss,” it hissed.
Felix cocked a hip. “Mmm, no, I’m pretty sure, one, two, three nasty little lizard spawn and one psycho bitch are inside doing their best rendition of brisket,” he said, ticking off his fingers. “And I hate to break it to you, but I’m a terrible cook.”
The dragon cocked its head like it was listening, and then the beast’s jaws parted.
It hissed again, its wings snapped open as it reared up, screaming into the sky.
Felix distorted himself again and ran like hell, a stream of liquid fire blasting the cliffside where he’d just been standing.
The dragon crashed back to the ground, the earth shaking and boulders tumbling from Jena’s ward.
“That all you got?” Felix screamed, changing direction.
The dragon charged, and Felix dove into a deep furrow. He landed in slushy, half-frozen mud, his heart in his throat. The earth trembled again and stones peppered down around him. Long, black talons curved over the edge of the gash, flexing, and Felix looked up.
The dragon stood above him, his scales close enough to touch. Heat radiated from the beast and sweat broke out on Felix’s brow, the stench of brimstone thick enough to choke him.
And his karma was rapidly coming to an end.
The dragon’s talons flexed again, clods of frozen earth falling around Felix and swamp water seeping higher around him. Above him, the monster’s chest rumbled, and it let out another roar—
Karma prickled against Felix’s skin, and the light from the circle grew brighter. He bit back a sob. The node. It’d finally answered them.
The dragon shrieked again and lumbered away. Felix held his breath until the last flick of the monster’s tail passed him. He gingerly shifted his position, climbing over scree to pop his head out of the furrow.
The circle of stones glowed a brilliant violet, cleansed of sin, and in the distance a shimmering curtain had begun to rise. Felix bit his lip so hard it bled. But Jena…she was on the ground cradled in Chase’s arms. He glared through the circle at the dragon, his features half-man, half-wolf.
Oh, fuck. Felix stare at them aghast. Oh my God. She couldn’t be—No. No!
He scrabbled out of the furrow and raced across the broken landscape, summoning karma. Fuck the balance, fuck his scales— “You bastard!” he screamed, etching a glyph into the air and clashing his wrists together over his head, throwing everything he had at the dragon.
The wind kicked up around him as the beast whipped toward him, taking a step back as the wind became a gale, then a hurricane, Felix’s curls writhing around his head, pushing more karma into his spell. He screamed at the universe: I don’t care what happens to me, save them!
A horn sounded in the distance and a thunder of hooves raced toward them.
The dragon reared back, as a ghostly host of riders thundered into the hollow. Felix fell to his knees, panting. Otherworldly spears flew over his head, sinking deep into the monster’s hide. It bellowed in shock and pain, its wings snapping open as it scrambled to get away.
The dragon launched itself into the air, and a volley of arrows met it, shredding its wings.
The great beast listed, fighting to gain height, then crashed into the swamp, a tidal wave of muck exploding outward and drenching the shore.
Felix spat it from his mouth, not understanding. What the hell was going on?
The dragon thrashed, flames and green vapor spilling from its jaws, the earth rumbling and the beast’s irate screams splitting the air.
The leader of the host dismounted, a curved horn at his hip, and a crown of hawthorn across his brow.
He grimly marched toward the dragon, weighing a long silver spear in his hand.
He lightly tossed it, once, twice, and then reared back, and threw it.
It sped true through the night, starlight flickering in its wake, and pieced the dragon’s breast as if sinking into softened butter. The great beast shuddered, then went still. The luster fell from its scales, then dulled completely and clouded over. Its massive carcass turned to stone.
Felix’s throat bobbed. Holy shit.
The host, the world—all was silent. The man turned and strode back to his horse, remounting. He turned to Felix, his eyes greener than the greenest of springs, and nodded solemnly, a squirrel peeking out of his collar.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Felix murmured.
The man grinned and kicked his horse forward, the rest of the host streaming after him and disappearing into the night.
Felix blinked, his gaze going from where they’d disappeared to the dragon’s petrified corpse, and then back to the circle, slowly becoming aware of the baying of wolves in the distance. He staggered to his feet, tripping over frozen muck and stones.
The ward was still up, and he put a hand against it. Chase was cradling Jena, but he’d lost the wolfish cast to his features. That had to be a good sign, right? Felix’s fingertips tingled and the ward slowly dissolved. He stepped through, into the circle and fell to his knees beside them.
His throat bobbed. “Is she…?”
“She’s okay,” Chase said with tears in his eyes. “But it was close. The dragon was doing something that blocked us from reaching the node. If you hadn’t come out and distracted it…” He shook his head. “Never again. That was too close. You get Liam and Axle out?”
Felix nodded, the distant baying closer. “Yeah, and it sounds like the rest of the pack is on its way. I texted Kelsey when we were back in the truck and probably should’ve explained more than I did.”
“Dude, that’s not the only thing you need to explain. What the fuck was that out there?”
Felix scrubbed his face with his hands and frowned at how filthy they were. “I’ve absolutely no idea, but I have a horrible suspicion that Sway does, and that her kinip-kinap just saved all our asses.”
Chase just looked at him.
A red wolf burst into the circle and morphed into Kelsey fast enough to turn Felix’s stomach. “Oh my God, are you guys okay? Shit, I mean, duh, no, you’re not, but damn it! I always miss the good stuff!”
Felix snorted. “I can assure you, it wasn’t that great.”
“Whatever, you’re just saying that.” She jumped up and down and rubbed her arms. “Whoo, it’s cold!
Tom’s coming with the EMS crew, but I just wanted to tell you Axle, Liam, and your cat are fine.
My dad took them straight to the Witchery when we saw how bad off he was.
That bite Liam got was really nasty, but don’t worry, Aggie says his arm won’t fall off. ”
Felix’s heart about stopped. “What? He got bit?”
“Um, yeah,” she said like he was an idiot. “Good thing Aggie had the coven make up a batch of dragon antivenom after you guys left. I guess that kind of thing’s pretty serious.”
Felix’s eyelids fluttered as flashlight beams dipped down into the hollow along with men’s voices.
“Ah! There’s Tom. I’m gonna run, but I’ll see you guys back at the shop.
” Kelsey sprinted over to a huge tattooed guy in an EMS uniform and kissed his stubbled cheek.
Felix’s eyebrow rose, and he and Chase exchanged a look.
That was Tom? Kelsey grinned over her shoulder at them, then shifted and bolted out of the hollow. Whoo. Guess so.
“Hey,” Tom said, directing the rest of the crew to lay out a stretcher for Jena. “You guys mind if I check you for injuries?”
Chase sniffed, and a low growl started in his throat.
Tom sighed. “You really want to do this now or can we get your girl out of here first?”
Felix put a hand on Chase’s arm. “Can we please go home?”
Chase’s gaze slid from Tom’s to Jena, and he frowned. “Yeah, sorry about that, it’s—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Tom said, obviously irritated despite his words. “We’ll take good care of her, I promise, and you can ride in the back with her to Klineville General.”
Chase nodded and let them load her up. They stood as the crew started away and followed them out of the hollow.
“What the hell was that about?” Felix asked when they were out of ear range.
Chase snorted and shook his head. “Kelsey’s dating a cat.”
Liam laid back against one of the couches with his feet up at the Witchery, his bandaged shoulder a dull throb.
It wasn’t quite as bad as the one in his head after being subjected to watching black and white Matlock reruns with Aggie, but he’d take it.
He smiled as Sarah hugged his good arm tighter, snuggling beside him with Cruze.
Axle was snoring obnoxiously loud at his other side, but the kid sure as hell had earned the right.
On the screen, Matlock objected to something, and Liam rolled his eyes.
“You know that none of that really happens, right?” Liam asked, unable to stand it anymore. “Cases don’t move from filing to trial in under a week, and you can’t have last minute evidence like that because of discovery rules.”
Aggie glowered at him. “Did someone tell you Santa wasn’t real when you were little, and now you’ve gotta spread that joy?”
“Santa’s not real?!” Sway screamed from one of the overstuffed chairs.
Cruze and Sarah groaned, snuggling closer together like puppies.
“Of course he’s real,” Aggie scoffed. “And let me tell you, he’s a lousy tipper.”
Liam snorted, his eyes going to Sway as she bolted upright. Felix must be close. A couple of minutes later, Chase’s truck pulled up outside the shop, and tired footsteps dragged up the stairs.
Sway was in Felix’s arms before he’d even gotten the door open all the way, and shockingly silent. He picked her up and closed the door behind himself, his gaze running over the rest of the kids and then meeting Liam’s eyes.
A broad grin stretched across his face at what he saw there. “Hey.”
“Hey,” Felix said, smiling back.
“God,” Aggie grumbled. “Get a room.”